Manicotti with Meatballs and Marinara - M - Alphabet Challenge

For the letter M I went with some of my favorites – manicotti, meatballs, and marinara! I had a lot of time over the labor day weekend so I made every element from scratch. If you’re in a hurry or not a food nerd like me, you can use store bought manicotti shells and marinara. If you don’t want to make meatballs you can brown some ground beef in a pan and once cooled, at it directly to the ricotta mixture. You could also omit the meatballs entirely and make this a vegetarian dish.

Since there are a few steps to the homemade pasta for the manicotti you can check out my marinara and meatball recipe here - https://kleinanddine.blogspot.com/2014/08/spaghetti-and-meatballs-from-scratch.html

After a Sur La Table cooking class to learn more about pasta I've changed my pasta recipe. I highly recommend watching a youtube video about making homemade pasta dough as it's usually easier to see how someone makes something. 
 
Ingredients:
Pasta:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp salt
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil
 
Manicotti Filling:
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. chopped herbs (chives and basil recommended)
 
1 cup grated parmesan, for garnish.
 
Pasta Directions:

1. Make a mound of flour on a clean surface like a wooden cutting board. Make a large well in the center.

2. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, salt, and olive oil. Add the egg mixture to the well in the flour. Gently combine flour and eggs together stirring from the middle toward the outside until a dough forms.

3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until a fingerprint pushed into dough bounces back. Once the dough is complete, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 1 hour, up to 6 hours.

Manicotti Filling Directions:
1. Add the ricotta, mozzarella, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and herbs to a small bowl until mixture is evenly combined. Set aside until ready to fill manicotti.

 
Filling and Cooking the Manicotti
1. When ready to roll pasta place a large pot of salted water over high heat until it comes to a boil. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

2. Roll pasta using a kitchen aid mixer pasta rolling attachment. Start at the largest setting (1 on the dial) and run the pasta through. Continue to roll pasta, moving the dial to higher numbers each pass until you get the thickness of 5 on the dial. If pasta starts to stick or get tacky, sprinkle it with a pinch of flour. Allow pasta sheets to rest for 5 minutes.

3. Cut the pasta sheets about 6 inches by 6 inches in size. Boil pasta sheets a few at a time for 4 minutes. Remove the pasta sheets with a spider strainer and allow to cool down a bit so you can roll them into manicotti shapes.

4. Add a layer of marinara sauce to the bottom of the pan you plan to bake the manicotti in. I suggest a 9x13 glass pan or nice baking dish that you can use for presentation. You want the sauce to completely cover the bottom of the pan but not be too much.

5. Place a sheet of pasta on a cutting board. Pipe in a 1 inch tube of the ricotta filling on one end of the pasta sheet. Add small meatballs (if using) on top of the cheese mix. Add another 1 inch tube of ricotta filling to cover the meatballs. Roll the cheese mix up in the pasta sheet starting at one end and rolling until you’ve created a tube of pasta around the cheese. Place the completed manicotti in the pan with marinara sauce on one end. Continue this step until the baking pan is full of manicotti.

6. Top the manicotti with a few spoonful’s of marinara sauce until all of the pasta is covered. Top with grated parmesan cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes until the cheese on top is slightly browned. Serve warm!